The invention herein pertains to furniture construction and in particular pertains to the manufacture of upholstered chairs, sofas, loveseats, case goods such as dressers and the like which utilize frames.
Certain furniture is conventionally manufactured by forming an upper section such as in the manufacture of a chair whereby the back, sides and bottom have assembled wooden internal components which are then covered in part with resilient foam padding. The padded foam is then covered with a suitable outer fabric. This upholstered upper section is then inverted and a decorative wooden frame having legs or corner blocks for subsequent leg attachment is attached as with screws, bolts or other fasteners. Manufacture of furniture in this manner has been proven economical and cost-effective. Upholstered furniture manufacturers bulk purchase attractive decorative frames generally preassembled in rectangular fashion and add legs of their choice. Such legs generally come with threaded studs for easy assembly into threaded fasteners affixed to the corner blocks of the preassembled frames. Thus by changing the frame, fabrics and leg designs, any of a large variety of particular furniture items such as chairs can be offered to retail stores on a custom basis. Case goods such as dressers also have frames used in the construction thereof.
Preassembled frames are generally shaped to fit a particular size furniture item. When shipped from long distances, their cost quickly escalates due to both the weight of the frames and the volume of space occupied. This is of particular concern when such frames are transported by ship or airplane, at which time the volume of the shipment is of maximum concern. Furniture manufacturers want preassembled frames delivered quickly on demand, but are extremely cost conscious in today""s competitive market.
Thus, with the problems and disadvantages associated with conventional preassembled frames and methods of furniture manufacture utilizing the same, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a frame base for an upholstered chair, dresser or other item which can be shipped long distances in a collapsed or compact fashion to reduce the shipping costs.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide an upholstered furniture frame which is attractive to use and relatively inexpensive to transport.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a rigid stable frame which has hinged joints for quickly expanding it from a collapsed storage posture.
It is yet a further objective of the present invention to provide a furniture frame which utilizes legs which can be easily attached as needed.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a dual pivot hinge in a first preferred embodiment for use in the construction of a furniture frame.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a furniture frame which utilizes a single-action hinge in a second embodiment of the invention.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is set forth below.
The aforesaid and other objectives can be realized by providing a frame for upholstered furniture such as chairs, dressers and other items which includes a front, a rear and two side rails formed of a solid wood, chipboard or other materials such as plastic which is preferably joined at the corners by a dual pivot hinge. The dual pivot hinge includes a pair of short end sections which are pivotally joined to a planar central section, when used as a base for upholstered chairs having apertures therein for attachment of a leg or corner block. Each end of each of the rails include a projecting lip which is positioned in each one of a pair of, for example vertical grooves in the leg. Thus, frames which are received in a collapsed posture are opened or extended to a substantially rectangular configuration, the legs attached and the frame is then complete for mounting on a selected upholstered upper section such as for a chair. Once the frame is so affixed, the chair is then ready for delivery to a retail store or otherwise.
In a second embodiment of the invention, a frame for upholstered furniture, a single-pivot hinge is attached to the base rails. A hook on the center section of the hinge is joined to a ring member which can be of various shapes on the adjoining rail during assembly to form the rectangular frame. Legs are attached to the central section of the hinge as in the preferred embodiment to likewise form a rigid, stable attractive, exposed frame for use with upholstered furniture upper sections. Case goods generally have rigid main frames which could also be made using the collapsible features used herein.